Asking Him Out
by Hikari of the Moon
Summary: Asking someone out is always hard. It's harder when he's the CEO of his own company and your exworst enemy. Puppyshipping [BDay Fic for MischeifMaker]


Hikari: ((has a birthday hat on)) YAY!  
Yawi: And this is for...What?  
Hikari: This is a gift-fic for Mischeif-Maker! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAL!

Disclaimer: Hikari of the Moon does not own Yugioh. At all. Deal with it. She has.

Warnings: Three swearwords used a couple of times each. Mostly in the first section. ALSO, this is shounen-ai. Meaning boy love meaning guys-paired-with-other-guys. Don't like, don't read. (words to live by)

* * *

Seto Kaiba, CEO and President of Kaiba Corp., was daydreaming at his desk. 

He was tired of defending himself against the slings and arrows of the media.

And he blamed that damn King of Games, Yugi Motou, and his damned boyfriend.

Yugi had come out of the closet early last month with his boyfriend. Some creampuff; Seto had forgotten his name. The day after Yugi did so, a research study announced that 9 out of 10 male duelists are gay. The combination of the two made everyone believe in it even more. The first thing the media had done was attack the most powerful duelist who hadn't come out yet. Seto Kaiba.

So what if he actually wasn't gay? They didn't even give him a chance to defend himself. Any male duelist without a girlfriend was automatically gay to the media. And harassed by the public because of it. Dueling's popularity hadn't gone done a bit, surprisingly. Seto was even opening a dueling school in time for next year's students.

And on top of all that, his secretary had quit. Something about "You homosexuals will rot in hell!" or some other nonsense he had ignored. He'd gotten no applications about it for a while, so he put an ad in the paper. It did disturb him, though, that no one wanted to work for him now that he was "gay".

The hype was true. He actually was gay, but he wasn't about to come out now! Everyone who knew him would either laugh or, heaven forbid, try to date him. What no one seemed to get was that just because he was gay doesn't mean he likes every guy he sees.

He knew who he wanted to see now, though. Who he wanted to work with him. An old plaything of his. His...puppy, if you will. Joey Wheeler. He'd liked him since they were sixteen and now he was twenty-one.

He sighed and rested his head on the table, pushing his laptop off to the side carelessly. Yeah. He was _that _tired. He was lucky it hadn't fallen off the desk!

Suddenly, someone was knocking on his door. He wearily lifted his head up, straightened out his suit, and yelled, "Come in."

The door opened and a blond head poked through. "Sorry 'bout just coming up like this. I would've gotten the secretary to warn ya...but you don't have one. Which is why I'm here!" Seto blinked a few times and looked into the oh-so-familiar brown eyes.

'I am not _that _lucky...' He thought before speaking aloud. "...Pup?"

The blond laughed. "I thought we'd gotten over that!"

"...Yes, we did."

They had. After their highschool graduation, Yugi had gotten together everyone who'd been at Yami's farewell duel and thrown a party. At which he had stood on a chair in front of everyone and said if you weren't friends, or at least on good speaking terms, with everyone else there, you couldn't leave.

No surprise Seto and Joey were there the longest.

They had tried to talk about what they didn't like about each other. That had turned into an insult contest. So they picked one thing that annoyed them the most.

Seto's: "You always act like a dog. Backing up Yugi, fighting his battles...Friends with his friends, enemies with his enemies. It's pathetic!"

And Joey's: "You act like you've got a flagpole up your ass! Would it kill you to act like a teenager instead of Mr. CEO for once!"

And they worked it out. It was easier than they'd thought it would be. They settled years of fighting with one night of talking. They'd become pretty good friends and were laughing about the stupidest things by the end of the night.

...And now that Seto was thinking about it, he remembered seeing that creampuff boy give Yugi the middle finger that night...

But, back to the present, where Seto was trying to figure out why Joey had walked into his office.

"Yeah..." Joey said, "Now, about that job."

'Oh,' Seto thought, 'He's here for the secretary job.'

Give that man a gold star!

---

So Seto had hired Joey. Joey was thrilled. He'd missed being around Seto since their last real meeting. It was the feeling of butterflies in his stomach, the memories of Seto popping up, and just overall wanted feeling when he thought of the other man that made Joey realize he probably was in love with Seto.

It was the boyfriends he'd had since then that had confirmed that.

Joey had broken up with his latest boyfriend a few weeks before. He'd told him that he just couldn't see a future with him and his now-ex had understood. He was such a sweetie...

Joey shook his head to clear that thought. He was back in Domino now. Back where Seto was.

And also, back where all his friends were. Yugi, Tristan, Ryou, Malik, and Duke were here. Tea was in America studying dance. Everyone was happy for her, she'd finally made her dream come true, but they were also happy because they didn't have to hear her friendship speeches anymore. Which, as she had gotten older, had become longer and stupider.

Although, Bakura and Marik were still here. No one understood that except their hikaris, but they weren't telling.

"HEY! IT'S THAT ONE GUY!!"

Joey turned around, and quickly looked forward again. It was...

"Joey! I remember, your name's Joey! Have I apologized for practically killing you yet?"

...Marik Ishtar.

"JOEY!!!" Marik ran up from behind him and tackled him. "Why're you back?"

"Job." He wheezed out from the pavement, "I'm Kaiba's secretary."

"Kaiba? As in Seto Kaiba? As in the guy you luuurve?"

Joey's face turned red. "Why would you say that?"

Marik rolled off Joey and gave him a smile. "Because right before you left I heard you tell Yugi you liked someone! And you'd never mentioned it before the party! AND I know Seto likes you!"

"How would you know that? I thought he banned you from the grounds of his building..."

"Oh, he did. But I'm friends with Mokuba!" The two of them stood up, finally clearing the way for the little crowd that had gathered.

"Figures. You've got the same maturity." Joey scoffed. Marik was technically ten or twenty and although Mokuba was seventeen, the two of them got along as well as Joey and Yugi did.

"Yup! And he says Seto was haaaappy today! And only after you came by!"

Joey's blush got darker. "That doesn't mean he likes me. And even if it does, how do you ask out the richest bachelor in Japan?"

"The same way you ask out anyone. You say, " Marik's voice got deeper, like he was mocking Joey, "'Look man. Would you go out with me on a date this Saturday?' It's easy!"

Joey gave him a look that clearly said 'yeah right'.

"Hey, if you don't believe me, I'll give you a demonstration!" He saw someone across the street. "There's Bakura!" Marik grabbed Joey's arm and dragged him to the other sidewalk, narrowly avoiding the cars.

"Hey Bakura!"

Bakura looked up from his book and smirked. "Hey Marik. Is that Joey with you?"

"Yeah. He's just a little speechless now."

'Anyone would be speechless seeing Bakura reading Shakesphere.' Joey thought.

"Anyways, Bakura, would you go out with me to the movies Friday night? You know, like a date?"

Bakura blinked. "Really?" Marik nodded a lot. "Fine then. I'll find out what's playing and call you later." Both yamis smiled. "I have to go, man. Ryou's waiting for me at home for his anniversary. I promised to make the cake."

"Okay. Bye!"

Bakura continued walking with his book and Marik looked over at Joey. "See? I have a date now! You can do it!" Joey blinked twice. "So go! Go and prepare yourself! And if Mokuba doesn't tell me you went out with him by the end of the month, I'll eat your hat!"

If there was one thing Joey knew, it was if Marik said he'd eat your hat, he would. If you didn't have one, he'd buy you one, give it to you, then eat it. He was that determined.

Marik started pushing him away and Joey got the hint. "Right. See ya."

So Joey had to ask Seto out.

Good for him. Only problem was he didn't have a clue how to do it.

---

After a couple of weeks went by, Joey had written and re-written ways to ask him out. In the end, he just decided to play to his strengths.

When he couldn't find one that applied to this, he chose to play to Kaiba's weakness. If you could call it that.

The phone rang. "Mr. Kaiba's office. What can I do for you?" Joey asked for what felt like the millionth time.

"Mr. Kaiba is not speaking to the press currently"

"No, sir, Mr. Kaiba will not give a comment."

Joey sighed. "Fine, sir, I'll tell him you've called." He hung up the phone. So many members of the press called that he couldn't remember them all without writing them down.

"Joey." He looked down at the intercom and held the speak button.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba?"

He heard Seto chuckle from the other end. Probably thought these stinkin' formalities were funny. "Can you bring the minutes from last week's board meeting here?"

"Of course, Mr. Kaiba." With a stack of papers, he stood from his chair and made his way down the hall to his boss's room.

'Alright,' Joey thought as he walked, 'This is it. I have to ask him out now...If no one else is with him...'

He arrived at Seto's office and gently pushed open the door. Seto was sitting behind his desk typing on his computer. Joey stepped into the office, closing the door behind him, and cleared his throat.

Seto looked up just long enough to meet Joey's eyes then continued watching his typing. "Joey. Leave the minutes on the front of the desk."

"You know, sir," Joey said as did what Seto told him to, "You shouldn't push yourself too hard. The stress isn't good for you."

"Then what do you supposed I do?" Seto asked, still watching his computer.

"Something else. Like, spend time with your brother, enter a dueling tournament, go on a date, take a vaca-"

Seto interrupted, "Go on a date?"

"Well, yeah. There're probably hundreds of girls out there who'd jump at the chance to date you."

"Joey, I-"

Joey kept on talking as if Seto hadn't tried to. "And, you know, if you feel that way, I'm sure there are some guys out there who'd love it too."

"Wheeler-"

"It's been ages since you've even had a date, as far as I can tell from the news. You should get back out there."

At that, Seto stood up. "Wheeler, in case you haven't noticed, I'm working. So unless you want to be fired, you should shut up and go back to your post."

Joey balled his fists at his sides and took a deep breath. "See?" He smiled. "You're stressed. So, how about we go out to the movies tomorrow night?"

Seto blinked. "Get out," He snapped. Joey looked down, embarrassed, but nodded and left.

---

A hour or so later, Joey was feeling only a little sad. After all, Marik was an idiot. What did he know about how Seto felt? And he hadn't gotten fired yet. He sighed and shuffled his dueling deck out of boredom.

"Joey?"

Joey looked up, startled, and saw Seto Kaiba standing in front of him. He gulped. "Yes, sir?"

"Reschedule all my meetings tomorrow afternoon and evening."

"w-What should I tell the others if they ask why?"

The corners of Seto's mouth turned upwards. "Tell them I have a _much_ more important meeting to attend to." Joey carefully smiled back at him. Seto winked, and then walked down to someone else's office.

As soon as he was done making the calls, he got up and went to the restroom to scream for joy.

"I have a date!"

* * *

Hikari: Hope everyone liked it! Please review! Or I'll never do this again!  
Yawi: ...That's going to inspire them to _not_ review. ((Hikari glares at Yawi)) Right, right. Review, please, people! 


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